S01: Nothing to say here. Standard opening

A01: Cover Munich because of France.

Builds: Hm. Now things get interesting. Hope there isn’t a jugg. Was surprised to see France’s support move to Belgium. Wish I had taken it (sort of) but I’m glad to see he wants to be friends. Hope he builds F Bre and moves after England. I’ll build a fleet in Ber and try to take Swe. Would like Bel, but I want France to take it if it means our friendship. Looks like Italy was going for the Key Lepanto and Austria didn’t get it. To be fair, I don’t think I would have picked up on it. But I’ll know to look for that in the future.

S02: Glad to see F Bre from France and F Edi from England. Expect France will move after England while I take Swe. Then I’ll work with France against England. Moving to Ska in case England tries for it. That should guarantee me Swe, since Russia and England are at war. Unhappy to see A War, but hopefully that is going south. I like Turkey’s build in Ank. I think that means very good things for me. I’ll keep Russia out of Swe, which should effectively cripple him.

A02: Well France and I just can’t figure out Belgium. This has got to be the first time F/G have fought over who accepts the others support into Bel… I’ll support him in again, since I’ve got Swe. Also, Austria doesn’t seem to understand the idea of a key lepanto. It’s a shame that Turkey and Russia are making up too…

Builds: Think I’ll build F Kie, convoy Den to Liv, and move Kie > Den. Russia probably won’t see that coming. I hope. Wait. That plan doesn’t work, since I can’t take GoB in the same turn. Although it would be fun if I could. Will likely build the same though. Building a third fleet though means I have almost no choice but to eventually stab France. I hope I can do that successfully, and I hope he doesn’t do it preemptively. Hopefully a powerful Italy can help me there.

S03: Glad to see France’s builds. Don’t think I’ll take a center this year, but I’ll definitely reposition to take St. Pete the next year. Kie > Den, Den > Swe, Swe > GoB with support. Wish there were a better way to get into Finland, Liv and GoB. Hopefully Russia disbands that fleet when I retreat it. Strange Rom build from Italy. Don’t know what he’s going to do with that. I guess move to Ven and Tyr. I would have expected a fleet to fight Turkey.

A03: And Austria quits. Sigh. At least he wasn’t too big. Will move to Liv and Finland and North. I’m risking leaving Swe open, but I really want to take North, and maybe the move to Fin will make England think I want to be friends.

Builds: Wow. Two French builds. Bad news for me. Especially with Italy occupied with RT. What a shame. Why the draw votes guys? Just giving up? Surprised you joined them, France… Glad Russia disbanded his fleet instead of retreating.

S04: Will take Nor and St. P this year. Should put me in a good position to fight off France. Or maybe build armies and go somewhere else if he doesn’t look hostile. But I think he will.

A04: Wow. I really expected a move to Bur from Par. Thanks, France. Russia bounced me, but it doesn’t matter – I can force it with Norway this year. It’ll just take slightly longer. Actually, I don’t even want to do that, do I. Yes, I do. France’s stab is inevietable here. Move to NAO. Have to rebuild to fight him. He doesn’t need that many units to take London… But having two armies off the mainland should help some. Hope he rearranges his forces this year so I don’t have to stab him. Otherwise NAO can be nothing but hostile. Thanks for making us wait for forever, by the way England. You could have just had some class and issued orders, you know. I think I have to try for Burgundy this phase, unfortunately. If France moves back to MAO, I’ll fall out, but that NAO move scares me, there’s just no reason for it.

Builds: Strange, strange moves from France. I don’t get the fleet in NAO. But if he wanted to fight me, he would have moved to Norwegian and North. I just don’t get it… Going to go out on a limb and trust him. Mostly because I’m somewhat hosed if he and Russia both play for me anyway. Really would like an explanation from France for his actions in an EOG here. I’m very confused.

S05: Well, I really hope you flood the Med, France. I’m going after Russia. Hope Russia moves Mos > Sev. That would give me a very good shot at Warsaw in the next year. Also hope Italy’s 2 fleets scare France a bit.
A05: Well, that’s what I expected, to be honest. And I’m an idiot. A SC St P fleet can’t support hold Norway, can it. Damn, that was stupid. And he’ll convoy there, what’s worse. Hopefully, Italy will help me by tapping Gal and I can take Warsaw. Hopefully. At least I hold the stalemate line in the north. May have to play for that at this point. Really hoping I can hold France off for an IFG 3 way.

Builds: Hope Austria disbands Mos. That would help a lot. I made a huge mistake by not moving to North Sea with Norway. I knew I should have, but was confused by France’s play and didn’t want to ruin a potential alliance.

S06: Well, the builds aren’t exactly helpful. Moves are just to fight France here ad infinitum. This is my fault, can’t really complain. Always play it safe in gunboat. Oh well.

Buils: *wow* That did not work out well. All I can do now is hope Italy helps me hold the stalemate because he’s scared of France. Only good thing about this is France can’t get into Baltic immediately because he’s got armies there.
S07: Will be very surprised if Italy doesn’t start helping me. With all my centers but Warsaw, France will have 17. War, Mos, or Tun and he’s won. All I can hope is that I’m instrumental in stopping that. Still kicking myself for being so stupid. I’ve won or drawn my last 5 gunboats. :-(

A07: Well that was an unfortunate confusion between Italy and I. I’ll hold Munich this turn, but barely. Russia will be needed for this draw too, I think. We need his units in Liv and Mos. I hope he’s not stupid enough to throw this to France, which I think he will be, given his support move last turn. But he’s got his draw vote up now, maybe he gets it.

Builds: No. He doesn’t get it. Damnit, Russia, if France solos because you couldn’t get over my attacking you, you will have been the biggest idiot in the history of diplomacy. Good news is France has Tunis. Which means I either draw or France solos.

S08: Supporting Russia to Liv. What an idiot. I hope he gets this. And I hope Italy has the presence of mind to support hold Sev. Turkey’s trying to throw to France, but can you really blame him? For the record, you can blame Russia, who would easily draw without such stupid play. But Turkey doesn’t even have his draw vote up. *sigh*

A08: Nice moves, Italy. We still need more armies (Thanks, Turkey) but a draw looks pretty likely at this point. Munich is my best hope at survival. I’m fine if Italy takes Warsaw or France takes Berlin, as long as Munich survives. And you still need one more fleet in the south to support hold both Pie and Tunis. I feel fairly confident about the draw at this point. It may not include Russia (that will depend on France) but I’m pretty positive I’ll be in it.

Builds: Well no disbands for me at least. We need one more unit on Munich. If I can somehow manage to keep Warsaw, that can be one of mine. But I don’t think that’s likely here…

S09: Italy’s aggressiveness with Turkey here is just making it more likely for France to solo. He should have taken Warsaw that turn then moved to Sil to support Munich. And gotten Rum up to Gal. Turkey would see he’d be part of the draw (or maybe he’d just keep being a moron) and hopefully not ruin it. Correct builds from Italy, at least. I hope he stops obsessing with Italy and moves to the line. I’m not sure we can save this even if he does. He can worry about eliminating Turkey later. 500 Error… Looks like everyone got their orders in though despite it.

Builds: Disbanding Munich. It’s my only shot a draw now.

S10: Moving to Warsaw in hopes of French support. Maybe it will manage to throw to France. Who knows.

A10: Looks like France and Italy got their two way. Poor play on my part. And on Russia’s, a bit. OK, come on. This is absurd. Finalize your orders guys. I’m just waiting on you to eliminate Russia for the EOG… I should have seen the writing on the wall in 08 and thrown this to France. Well, OK. I did see it. I was just in denial. :-/

Come on Italy. We all know what’s happening here. You can finalize. It’s ok. The world won’t end. OK France. Now press the draw button. You can do it. There we go...